Computer Animation Festival

Infinite Imagination
The third edition of SIGGRAPH Asia's Computer Animation Festival presents the year's finest achievements in computer animation and visual effects by artists, designers, researchers, and scientists from around the world. A distinguished international jury reviews hundreds of submissions and selects the best of the best.

Honoring the Best Creations
This year, the world-renowned jury of the Computer Animation Festival has selected three very special pieces as award recipients.

The Best of Show award goes to "Poppy", directed by James Cunningham from New Zealand production house Supercollider. Based on true events, “Poppy” is a short story about two soldiers who found a baby in a muddy ditch, under his dead parents. Working with partner Leslie Chan in a spare bedroom for a year, Cunningham explored the emotional potential of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to produce this heart-wrenching film.

The Best Technical Piece award goes to "Civilization V." from Digic Pictures, winner of the same award last year. Produced by Istvan Zorkoczy, this clip reiterates Digic Pictures’ mastery and expertise in 3D as well as computer graphics production. The world-class rendering of a beautifully detailed and realistic living world, clear cinematography, and amazing surfacing made this an excellent example of computer graphics technology applied to storytelling.

A new award, the Best Student Project prize goes to “Loom” by Ilija Brunck, Jan Bitzer, and Csaba Letay of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. This exceptional piece by students of the reputable film academy tells the story of a moth getting caught in a spider’s web. Viewers are taken through the moth’s struggle to face its predator bravely only to be digested into an integral part of its own trap: the spider’s web. The creative ideas behind this piece outshone its competitors’ and proved to the international computer graphics community that there are brilliant emerging talents who are set to take the industry to new heights.

Electronic Theater
A two-hour overview of the best animations, visual effects, and scientific visualizations produced in the last year. The jury assembled this show to represent the must-see works in computer graphics for 2010. The Electronic Theater also includes a few pieces shown by special invitation. On opening night, 16 December, the Electronic Theater begins with presentation of the Computer Animation Festival's Best of Show and Best Technical Awards.

Animation Theater
A more in-depth look at the world of animation, visual effects, and scientific visualization over the last year. In the Animation Theater, all-day shows present outstanding works from around the world selected by the Computer Animation Festival's jury.

Panels & Talks
Presentations by animators, visual effects producers, researchers, and industry experts on the state of the art in digital media.